On Oct. 5, I was fortunate to find myself at the MVP Arena in Albany for a Greta Van Fleet (“Light My Love”) concert.
Greta Van Fleet is a modern rock band of four which seems to have an incredible capability of channeling the ‘70s and ‘80s and transporting its listeners back to another musical era. Though often compared to Led Zeppelin (“Black Dog”), they somehow find a way to keep their music incredibly fresh all at the same time.
Their most recent album, “The Battle at Garden’s Gate,” had been on repeat in my car and headphones for a year when I happened to come across their tour dates on Ticketmaster last spring. Their date for Albany happened to be on a Wednesday night, which was not ideal for a college student’s schedule. However, the idea of seeing them on tour was too exhilarating to ignore. Myself and a friend found ourselves purchasing seats about halfway back in the arena, hoping to ensure ourselves a good view and experience. After months of anticipation, Oct. 5 did not disappoint.
While the opener was impressive and enjoyable, nothing could have prepared me for the band itself. A large curtain with cryptic symbols dropped above the stage, and soon all that could be seen were flashes of lights that peeked out from the sides as the crew prepared for the main event.
The show opened with a behind-the-curtain speech to rouse the audience from lead singer Josh Kiszka and at the drop of the curtain, a performance of “Built By Nations,” a driven song with a wide range of vocals and impressive moments for each instrumentalist.
Though I anticipated that the showmanship would be phenomenal, the lighting and production design matched the energy perfectly. With impressive displays of pyrotechnics to accompany their biggest hits, which Josh joked had set off countless fire alarms throughout the tour duration, the show was visually astounding as well. These occurred in time with the music and always felt incredibly controlled.
Three moments in the show particularly stood out to me. Of course, hearing two of their biggest hits, “Heat Above” and “Light My Love,” were enormous moments in the show that delivered exactly what the audience came for. What stood out to me in particular here was that there were absolutely no vocal modifications made to the songs: they sounded almost identical to their studio recordings. With the vocal range that Josh possesses, this is incredibly impressive. Famous for his long, high notes, a live replication is extremely challenging for any vocalist and yet, Josh even pushed himself to sing longer and higher. It was truly spectacular to watch such a gifted performer work his magic.
The other happened during the encore. Guitarist Jake Kiszka and vocalist Josh locked themselves in a sort of battle, with Jake playing the harmonica and Josh echoing or challenging him with his voice. This is something that I had never expected nor thought of before, but that was jaw-dropping for the audience.
The lineup of songs was great as well, and I only found myself missing two, which were “My Way, Soon” and “Stardust Chords.” These are songs that are fairly important to a lot of fans, including myself, and so I really wished I had been able to listen to these in the same capacity.
Ultimately, my experience at this concert was one that was worth a three-hour drive each way, a full tank of gas, an incredibly early morning the next day to get back to class and the ticket price. Seeing such genuinely impressive musicianship, showmanship and talent was something that has truly impacted my own choices as a musician and that will leave its mark on me for years to come.
Image via Greta Van Fleet via YouTube
